Ornelas, JoséAguiar, RitaSacchetto, BeatriceMonteiro, Maria Fátima Jorge2012-10-062012-10-062012Psychology, Community & Health, 1 (1), 3-82182-438xhttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/1757The purpose of this article is to offer a theoretical review on community based research, namely about collaborative processes and qualitative participatory methodologies, and to present an application of this framework to the research design. Method: It is provided a review on community-based research methodology, university-community partnerships, and is described the qualitative participatory methodology used in one collaborative study. Conclusion: following the partnership guidelines for collaborative community-university research, we highlight the participatory and qualitative process that intended to develop a measure of user’s capability gains fostered by mental health community based organizations.engParticipatory community researchMental health organizationsQualitative methodsjournal article